Assetto Corsa

The latest contender in the racing simulation genre, Assetto Corsa, manages to deliver consistent and sound racing controls, but everything around it is less than stellar. I compare it to the both excellent and average Gran Turismo 5 as Assetto Corsa plays well but is surrounded by antiquated menus and a drop in production value. But I expected that as the game has been out on PC for two years prior to its release on current gen home consoles so the disappointment at the very least wasn’t surprising. What is there though is good enough to hold players for a time as the car list is extensive an...

To say that Assetto Corsa is a disappointment is a bit of an understatement. The recent DiRT Rally by Codemasters proved that a sim could still be a good game – challenging and authentic, yet fun, with a career that feels engrossing and rewarding – but Assetto Corsa just feels dull and pointless in comparison, and that’s before you consider the numerous technical issues. No doubt there’ll still be a contingent of racing fanatics that can eke some real enjoyment out of it thanks to its solid driving model, but the overwhelming majority of wannabe racers out there are best sticking to the likes ...

That learning curve doesn’t exist in Assetto Corsa, the car simulation game from Italian developer Kunos Simulazioni. Instead, players are presented with a highly realistic racing game that doesn’t hold back. It’s designed so that a single bad turn in a five lap-long race is enough to ruin an entire weekend of competing. It’s brutal and unforgiving, but that has certainly worked for other titles such as DiRT Rally.

With Project CARS already in the wild and Gran Turismo Sport on the way later this year, as well as other realistic and excellent racers of their own kind in DiRT Rally and F1 2016 already out, there's plenty of variation and choice in the racing simulator market on the PlayStation 4 right now. But having garnered a hefty following with the modding community on PC, Assetto Corsa finally makes its way to Sony's platform – albeit without the community of tinkerers that perhaps made the game really stand out in the first place.

With that said, hopefully the game grows over time. I know Evolution Studios turned Driveclub into an enjoyable experience after a failed launch. Maybe Kunos Simulazioni can do the same for Assetto Corsa.